House endorses broadcasting bill

JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives endorsed the government-sponsored broadcasting bill yesterday, the second time in less than 12 months, after the first one was rejected by President Soeharto.

The chief difference now is that state-run TVRI is not permitted to run commercials, not even selected ones as stated in the first bill, and private stations are permitted greater reach.

Private TV stations also won reprieve in the licensing mechanism. They will be given 10-year renewable licenses, and not five-year licenses as in the first bill. However, radio station licenses will still be limited to five years.

All 290 legislators present at the plenary session said "yes" to Deputy House Speaker Sutedjo's offer for unanimous approval.

The bill was the last to be completed by the House which will be dissolved at the end of this month to make way for new legislators elected in the May general election.

Some legislators raised their hands demanding that they be allowed to make additional comments. But Sutedjo ruled out the possibility saying that the final remarks had already been provided by each faction through their respective spokespeople.

The bill will now go to President Soeharto for his signature before it becomes law.

Yesterday's endorsement brought an end to the long saga over the broadcasting bill, which was first submitted by the government in March last year.

The document went through one of the toughest deliberations ever given to a bill in the history of the New Order, reflecting the growing power of the commercial TV lobby in relation to TVRI, which currently holds a monopoly over all broadcasting.

There had been attempts to allow TVRI, which has a national reach, to tap advertising income, but the move was thwarted and the state network will continue to rely on license fees, government subsidies and royalties from commercial stations.

The five private TV networks -- RCTI, SCTV, TPI, ANteve and Indosiar -- are owned by politically connected people. They will continue to pay royalties to TVRI under the new law, but they will have greater freedom, such as producing and airing their own news, besides having to relay TVRI news.

When the bill was endorsed the first time in December, there were 20 additional articles to the original 58.

Delays in the signing of the bill by President Soeharto brought various speculation, and some analysts linked it to the replacement of long-time minister of information Harmoko by R. Hartono in June.

One of Hartono's first jobs was to announce the government's intention to submit the bill again for redeliberation, explaining that some of the articles could not be implemented.

The bill was formally submitted again in July and the deliberation, which began last month, had focused on four or five articles.

The House, already pressed with various bills to complete before the end of its term this month, set up a special committee to work with the government to discuss the bill again. The committee consisted of Hartono, nine legislators from the dominant Golkar faction, four from the United Development Party, three from the Indonesian Democratic Party and four from the Armed Forces faction.

After the plenary session, Hartono told reporters he could now relax after a month of endless meetings.

"Together, we've succeeded in improving the bill. We hope that the President will endorse it soon," he said.

He said once the law was enacted, the ministry would immediately issue decrees to implement the legislation.

"The government really appreciates the House for its kindness to redeliberate the bill, so both parties can provide unanimous alternatives for government policies," he said.

Hartono described the redeliberation process as active and dynamic, colored with live debate.

"The revised broadcasting bill was a result of a unanimous agreement between the House and the government," he said.

The broadcasting bill was significant for the development of communication and information technology, as well as global broadcasting, he said.

Articles in the bill should accommodate present and future conditions in the broadcasting industry, Hartono said. (imn/emb/amd)

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